Self-expression grows through practice. Aflatoun’s social and financial education gives children opportunities to share ideas, understand their feelings and take part in decisions.
Think of the child who has an idea but hesitates to explain it. Or the learner who can draw what they feel more easily than they can say it aloud. Both need opportunities to express themselves and adults who listen.
Debating clubs, theatre and school assemblies can offer valuable practice. But the chance to develop these skills should also be part of everyday learning, reaching children whose confidence is still growing.
For Aflatoun International, self-expression connects closely with social and financial education. A child discussing how to use club savings is also practising how to explain a preference, listen to others and help reach a decision.
A skill that needs practice
The need for communication skills is clear in the workplace. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) Job Outlook 2025 survey, 96.1% of employer respondents rated communication as very or extremely important. Yet only 53.5% rated recent graduates as very or extremely proficient.
These are the perceptions of 237 employer respondents, rather than a direct test of graduates’ abilities. They nevertheless highlight a question for education: how often do learners get to explain an idea, respond to feedback or work through a disagreement?
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 also places resilience, flexibility and agility among employers’ most valued skills, alongside leadership and social influence. Developing such abilities takes repeated opportunities to use them.
Learning that lasts
Self-expression sits within a wider set of social and emotional skills, including understanding feelings, managing responses and relating to others.
A 2011 review of 213 school-based programmes, involving 270,034 students, found improvements in social and emotional skills, attitudes and behaviour. Academic achievement was also 11 percentile points higher among participating students than among control groups.
A 2017 review of 82 programmes examined follow-up findings collected between six months and 18 years after participation. Students continued to show benefits in social and emotional skills, attitudes and measures of well-being.
These reviews concern broader social and emotional learning programmes. They do not measure self-expression alone or establish an Aflatoun-specific result. They offer a strong reason to give these skills a regular place in education.
A right to be heard
Children’s opportunities to express themselves also matter in their own right. Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises children’s right to express views on matters affecting them and have those views taken seriously.
Article 13 protects freedom of expression, including sharing ideas through speech, writing and art. The Convention’s full text reminds us that expression extends well beyond speaking in front of a class.
Making space for these rights means offering different ways to contribute. A drawing, a written reflection or a conversation in a small group can all help a child communicate something important.
How Aflatoun makes room
Aflatoun’s approach begins with Personal Understanding and Exploration, the first of its five core elements. Children explore their identity and what matters to them. Rights and Responsibilities helps them consider their own rights alongside respect for others.
Financial learning gives these conversations a practical setting. Children’s clubs bring learners together to discuss savings and shared activities. Enterprise and community projects create opportunities to develop ideas, explain choices and take responsibility.
For example, deciding what a group should save towards involves more than choosing an amount. Children need to hear different priorities and explain why a goal matters. That is one way financial learning can create practice in expression and cooperation.
Curricula that grow with children
Our curricula offer educators materials suited to different stages of learning, with room for local adaptation.
AflaTot introduces children aged three to six to social and financial learning through everyday experiences and play. Its approach creates space for young children to share ideas and develop relationships with peers and adults.
The AflaToun sample curriculum includes lessons on identity, feelings and different points of view. These topics help educators connect self-expression with understanding other people.
For adolescents, the AflaTeen sample combines discussion with creative activities. A lesson on rights and responsibilities, for example, invites participants to explain ideas in their own words and reflect through poetry.
Educators and organisations can explore Aflatoun’s core curricula and downloadable samples to find a suitable starting point.
What programme evidence tells us
Aflatoun’s research offers examples of changes in the social skills that support expression and relationships.
The AflaTot Evidence Brief reports findings from four programmes in Ecuador, Honduras and the Philippines. Across 546 children assessed in 2015, self-regulation scores rose by 36%, initiative by 19% and attachment or connections with others by 17%.
These before-and-after assessments had no control group, so they cannot show how much of the change the programme alone caused. They do show improvements in skills that help children manage feelings and take part in shared activities.
In Himachal Pradesh, India, a randomised evaluation involving 1,476 students in 74 schools found stronger self-efficacy and empathy among children in Aflatoun schools. Self-efficacy is the belief that you can act and succeed.
Schools delivered an average of 10 of the 24 planned sessions because of weather-related closures. The study found no observable effect on academic performance, an important distinction from the wider research on social and emotional learning.
Making practice part of the day
Educators can begin with small routines. Give learners time to think before inviting answers. Let children try explaining an idea to a partner before sharing it with a larger group. Offer writing and drawing alongside speaking.
Pay attention to whose ideas receive a response, and whose contributions adults may overlook. When children help make a decision, explain how the group used their suggestions. Practising expression becomes more meaningful when someone listens and responds.
The aim is to help every child find ways to contribute while respecting different personalities and communication needs. A quieter child’s thoughtful contribution matters as much as a confident presentation.
Self-expression grows in ordinary moments: a question welcomed, an idea discussed, a feeling understood. By building those opportunities into social and financial education, we can give more children the practice they need to take part.
Explore our curricula or contact [email protected] to learn about bringing Aflatoun’s approach into your school or organisation.